My name is Wei Qing, and I want to fight the Xiongnu.

Therefore, the shop assistant simply stood by with a smile in his eyes, neither explaining nor flattering, saying, "If you say so, then so be it."

Chapter 42: Descendants of the Xu Family

The shop assistant tried to pretend to be deaf and dumb, but there's never a shortage of busybodies.

At this moment, a middle-aged man with a prosperous appearance walked over from not far away and asked with a smile, "Young master's doubts, although I only have a superficial understanding of sword forging, I can explain a little about what you mean by bloodshed."

"Oh?"

Liu Yangxin asked curiously, "Please enlighten me."

The middle-aged man laughed and said, "The woodcutter's knife in this young master's hand is indeed much tougher than ordinary swords. Not to mention ordinary swords, even a priceless treasure sword is not as good as it."

The reason is that it was stained with a lot of blood, which I believe was the blood of the Xiongnu barbarians, but it really wasn't some kind of forging technique.

It's purely the essence and blood of certain powerful Xiongnu barbarians, condensed and attached to weapons, which strengthens them.

This is not a secret for swordsmiths with a lineage.

Some master swordsmiths during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods used their own flesh and blood to forge divine swords.

The method of Wei Qing pouring his life essence into a wood-chopping knife is similar to forging a sword with his own body.

Of course, in reality, very few people would do that.

The value of a master swordsmith far surpasses that of a fine sword.

The ancient master swordsmiths made this choice in pursuit of the Dao.

As you hear the news, you can die in the evening.

In pursuit of the path in his heart, he was willing to forge a sword with his own body.

However, from the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, this phenomenon was strictly prevented from occurring.

For dynastic rulers, what they need is sustainable development; regardless of whether it's morally right or wrong, they ban it all!

As for the idea of ​​using blood to strengthen weapons...

This practice is not a weapon-making technique, but rather a reward from "Heaven" to those warriors who fought valiantly.

If you were to forcibly forge such "blood soldiers," it would be like someone trying to get you to make counterfeit money. If you wanted to make a counterfeit 100-yuan bill, the cost alone would be about 250 yuan, which would be a complete loss.

Wei Qing's current woodcutter's knife is strong enough, but unfortunately it has too many nicks and its durability is almost gone. That's why he came to the Hundred Weapons Pavilion with Liu Yangxin to choose a suitable weapon.

Wei Qing looked at the middle-aged man and asked, "Who are you?"

The middle-aged man said confidently, "I haven't introduced myself yet. I am a descendant of the Xu family."

"Descendants of the Xu family?"

There are several prominent families in the art of sword making: the Pu family of Western Shu, the Xu family of Northern Zhao, the Ou family of Southeastern Yue, and the Zhuyong family of Eastern Qi.

Among them, the Ou family of Yue State was the most respected, whose ancestor was the renowned sword-making master Ou Yezi.

The man in front of me who claims to be a descendant of the Xu family is probably a member of the Northern Zhao Xu clan.

The ancestors of the Xu family of Bei Zhao were the ones who forged the world-famous dagger that killed the emperor, Lady Xu.

Lady Xu is both the name of the blade that killed the king and the name of the swordsmith.

Since he claimed to be a descendant of the Xu family, the middle-aged man in front of him, even if he didn't know how to forge swords, must be familiar with the art of sword forging. This was the only reason why he could sense the secret of the woodcutter's knife in Wei Qing's hand.

As for why they were interested in Wei Qing, it was because this woodcutter's knife was stained with a lot of blood from the Xiongnu barbarians.

"A descendant of the Xu family? Oh."

There are many descendants of the Xu family. Are we that familiar with each other?

Too lazy to bother with it anymore, Wei Qing put away his wood-chopping knife and said to Liu Yangxin beside him, "Let's go up and take a look. There's nothing good on this floor."

Liu Yangxin couldn't do anything about Wei Qing. She knew that Wei Qing wasn't arrogant or rude, but just had some issues with middle-aged people.

He genuinely couldn't be bothered to pay any attention.

When she first met him, Wei Qing showed an attitude of being too lazy to pay attention to her attempts to strike up a conversation.

The two went straight to the top floor, and the descendant of the Xu family followed with a smile.

He didn't say much, his face showing an innocent and harmless expression.

The descendants of the Xu family were not annoyed, since he had come out today in accordance with the contract with the Hundred Weapons Pavilion, which stipulated that he would come and visit every now and then.

It's not uncommon to encounter nobles and royalty in Chang'an, but it's rare to find a man who can fight to the death with the Xiongnu barbarians, especially one so young. Naturally, one would be willing to strike up a conversation.

Although casting involves dealing with iron and fire, the most taboo thing is to be impatient.

Therefore, many famous casting masters are big and burly, and their first impression is that they have a bad temper. However, when you get to know them, you will find that they are not only very meticulous, but also able to remain calm and composed when faced with problems.

Unlike the lower floors, the top floor has fewer weapons and fewer customers; instead, it has more staff.

Furthermore, the staff here are neither as lazy as those on the first floor nor as humble as those on the second floor; they are quite composed when facing customers.

They didn't seem like waiters, more like friends chatting about anything and everything.

The weapons on the top floor are all displayed inside crystal pillars, with data about the sword and the background story of its forging next to them.

If you want to try out a sword, you need the shop's permission, and the price skyrockets.

From the first floor to the fourth floor, the price only increased from a dozen gold coins to around a hundred gold coins, while any weapon on the top floor would cost no less than ten thousand gold coins.

Wei Qing made a rough observation and found that there were less than fifty crystal pillars on the third floor. In other words, the weapons on the top floor alone would be worth as much as a million gold coins on the market.

A million dollars!?

How many Xiongnu shamans would that require killing?

According to Liu Yangxin, a ram-headed shaman's mask is worth about two thousand gold coins, and it would take killing more than five hundred ram-headed shamans to obtain it.

That is to say, to wipe out a Xiongnu barbarian tribe with more than 100,000 inhabitants.

This... is a bit difficult...

Liu Yangxin had no idea what Wei Qing was thinking, otherwise he would have definitely kicked him in the calf. Could you please stop having such supernatural ideas?

If you had that ability, you could easily earn millions, let alone tens or hundreds of millions.

"The weapons here are quite good. Would you like to pick one that suits your needs?"

After calculating, Liu Yangxin estimated that he had about 50,000 gold coins available.

Mounts and such can wait, but weapons and armor certainly cannot be taken lightly.

We need to be well prepared, because once we get to the Imperial Academy, there will be no shortage of fierce battles.

Even disregarding Xu Shenxiang's prophecy, investing in a genius like him for 50,000 gold coins isn't excessive.

Not to mention he's a genius who can summon the spirit of the army.

Look at the price Xiahou Ying offered. If Wei Qing had agreed that day, the resources he would have received each year would have been discounted by at least 300,000 to 500,000 gold, not even counting the weapons, armor, and exotic beasts provided.

Therefore, Liu Yangxin's decision to buy out Wei Qing with 50,000 gold coins was an extremely profitable deal.

When Liu Yangxin suggested that Wei Qing choose a suitable weapon, the descendant of the Xu family walked over with a smile and offered his services: "Does this young master want to buy a weapon? I am one of the guest elders of this Hundred Weapons Pavilion, and I occasionally come here to answer questions for the customers on the top floor."

Guest advisor?

Upon hearing this, Wei Qing asked with some curiosity, "Aren't guest retainers supposed to just eat and not work? Why are you doing the work of shop assistants at the Hundred Weapons Pavilion? Isn't that a bit disrespectful?"

........

On a side note, this afternoon I was doing a Princess Connect gacha pull for Princess Form Kokkoro on the provincial server. I started pulling as soon as I woke up, and got a rainbow after 150 pulls. The Princess Festival has a double drop rate, so I was a bit stunned, but I didn't think too much about it.

I kept pulling, and after dozens of pulls I got a new one, but I got a Knight Squirrel instead of the standard one, and then I got a rare one.

FES was still missing Princess Kokkoro and Cthulhu. I don't know what I was thinking at the time, but I inexplicably went for Cthulhu. Since I still had 10,000 diamonds, I thought I'd throw them in to see if I could get Kokkoro.

The result is... a Cthulhu.

Honestly, I was devastated at the time. I had all sorts of thoughts on selling my account, rolling for accounts, quitting the game, and deleting the game.

But after sitting in the chair for a while, I thought again, when I was in the game, I was prepared for the possibility of not having Kokkoro. Besides, I'm just a lazy bum, I don't participate in guild wars or arenas, so why make things difficult for myself?

It's just a bonsai game, so I calmed myself down, finished my daily tasks, and logged off.

Sometimes, learning to deceive yourself can be quite useful.

Chapter 43: Judging by Actions, Not by Intentions

The descendants of the Xu family were dumbfounded. What did they mean by "guest ministers only eat and do no work"? If they didn't work, who would hire them as guest ministers?

Liu Yangxin, standing beside him, gently pulled down Wei Qing's sleeve, signaling him not to embarrass himself, and explained: "The so-called guest minister originally referred to a person who was not a citizen of the country but served as a high-ranking official in the country during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods."

The kind of people you're describing who only eat and don't work are called retainers. And those retainers with real talent and skills will step in to solve problems for their master when it matters. Only those who are all talk and no action will freeload off others.

The Xu family descendant standing nearby glanced gratefully at Liu Yangxin, thinking to himself that this lady was indeed knowledgeable and reasonable; otherwise, he really wouldn't know how to respond.

And how come you, young man, can't even distinguish between a guest minister and a retainer? Could it be that you weren't born in the capital of Chang'an, but came from a remote area?

Although the Han Dynasty did not keep retainers as much as the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, it was not to the point of reversal. Almost every prominent family in Chang'an kept some retainers, partly to handle shady matters and partly to build up talent reserves.

If he were a wealthy young man from the royal city of Chang'an, he would certainly not mistake a guest minister for a retainer.

Even if that were true, Xu's descendants did not underestimate Wei Qing because of it.

The reason is simple: this lady exudes an air of nobility in her speech and demeanor, suggesting she was likely born into a royal or aristocratic family.

The fact that such a person can patiently accompany a young man shows that, unless he was born into a special family, he must be exceptionally capable.

The descendant of the Xu family nodded and smiled, "What this lady said is very true. The weapons on the top floor of the Hundred Weapons Pavilion are not ordinary items. Ordinary shop assistants would find it difficult to explain their intricacies. Therefore, the Hundred Weapons Pavilion has hired many experts in this field to serve as guest advisors to answer customers' questions."

Wei Qing frowned slightly: "Proficient in this? Didn't you just say that you only had a superficial understanding?"

I...

The descendants of the Xu family were rendered speechless by the question. As direct descendants of Madam Xu, how many of them did not know how to forge knives?

I just... I just said I didn't know, but you actually believed me?

Wei Qing curled his lip and said, "You're a man who never tells the truth; I can't trust you."